1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for health care, and particular, to a method and apparatus for health care in which vital signals of an examinee are examined and potential signals corresponding to the examined result are sensed and analyzed to determine a body state of the examinee.
2. Description of Related Art
Examples of vital signals that can be sensed from an examinee are electrocardiogram (ECG) signals and electromyogram (EMG) signals. ECG signals can be used to determine whether the heartbeat of the examinee is normal and how much stress the examinee has. EMG signals can be used to determine the amount of consumed calories according to the amount of movement of the examinee. ECG signals and EMG signals are examples of vital signals.
A conventional health care apparatus determines the body state of the examinee using vital signals sensed from the examinee. That is, health indexes of the examinee are calculated using the sensed vital signals. The health indexes may be heart rate, heart stress, balance of the autonomic nerve system, amount of consumed calories, blood pressure, and core temperature.
However, conventional health care apparatuses cannot calculate health indexes reflecting the present body state. For example, in a conventional health care apparatus in which the acceleration of an examinee is sensed and the amount of consumed calories of the examinee is calculated using the sensed result, the consumed amounts of calories of two examinees, one of whom rides an uphill road exhausted on a bicycle and the other rides the uphill road easily with the same acceleration, are calculated as equal.
In addition, the conventional health care apparatus cannot calculate the accurate health index without information about the body part to which the health care apparatus is attached. For example, if attached to the chest of the examinee, the apparatus may sense an ECG signal, and if attached to a thigh of the examinee, the apparatus may sense an EMG signal. However, if no information about the attached part of the body is provided, the apparatus senses both the ECG signal and the EMG signal and thus cannot calculate an accurate health index.
Also, the conventional health care apparatus that comprises a plurality of devices must be attached to several body parts, thus making it inconvenient for the examinee.
Furthermore, the conventional health care apparatus cannot determine the local body state of the examinee, and inform the measurements of the health indexes to the examinee on a real-time basis.